When we last left you, Ceara Sturgis—who was suing her Mississippi school for banning her from wearing a tuxedo in her graduation photo—had hurtled past a motion by Copiah County officials to dismiss the case. Now the lesbian teen has gotten a measure of justice: School officials at Wesson Attendance Center have agreed to do away with gender-specific pronouns graduation-picture outfits altogether.

According to the ACLU: “The district has agreed to adopt a policy that will require all students to wear a cap and gown, rather than require boys to wear tuxedos and girls to wear drapes.”

While they can’t go back in time and paste her picture in the 2009 yearbook (or her name, seeing as she was fully excluded), Sturgis will appear in the class’s composite photo that hangs in the school library—with her tuxedo and sweet mop top intact.

And she’s happy about the whole sitch: “I am thrilled that my photo will join [the class picture].” she says. “It’s important that nobody else will be forced to wear something that doesn’t reflect who they are.”

“Hopefully no other students will be excluded from this important rite of passage simply for expressing themselves,” said Bear Atwood, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi. “Copiah County School District has done the right thing by changing the yearbook policy so no students have to feel as if they’re out of place.”

This is great and all, but we’re wondering whether the best policy for the school district would have been not to institute the one-size-fits-all gender-neutral cap and gown (so 1899!) but to allow students to choose whether they want ladylike drapes and pearls, manly tuxes, or asexual caps and gowns. Baby steps?

Hopefully administrators are beginning to wake up to the fact that they are working in a publicly funded education system and can’t enforce archaic social and religious stereotypes on children while -simultaneously- reaping our tax dollars. There will be no state-sponsored religious entities. Take note.

What gives the state the right to dictate the specific manner in which a citizen must be attired for a given occasion? Can a state require adults to wear red, white and blue on the Fourth of July?

An individual’s rights don’t stop at the schoolhouse door. If a kid wants to wear a tuxedo, a filthy t-shirt, or a goddam clown ruffle in their senior photo, that’s their deal, not a problem the state government needs to solve.

I’m almost certain that Mississippi has more pressing issues to deal with, like the fact their public education system is reliably among the lowest-ranked in the nation.

Jesus Matriculating Christ.

Dec 8, 2011 at 2:39 pm · @Reply ·

ScarUponTheSky

I actually like the caps and gowns because it at least gives a sense of equalness. the gowns also relatively hide the clothing of those who think graduation is akin to hitting up the dance clubs on the weekend.

While I’m all for letting people choose how they want to express themselves at graduation, I believe it would cause more problems that it would solve and the caps/gowns are a smart move. :)

@ScarUponTheSky: Yeah, that’s true. There’s a certain amount of professionalism and uniformity that yearbooks aim for, and allowing kids in monkey suits to stick their tongue in the middle of their index and middle finger might not be the best idea.

Dec 8, 2011 at 5:21 pm · @Reply ·

Dallas David

Actually, that hair style was quite popular in the 1970’s, and I still like it. It doesn’t look quite right on gray hair, though.

Ms. Sturgis looks fine, and I congradulate her on her success so far, and wish her much happiness in the future.